Review: The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke - Amazing Stories Review: The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke Search these: Home › Classics › Review: The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke When it comes to 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s usually a love it or hate it relationship based on the emotional loyalty of fandom. We already know a lot about writer Arthur C. Clarke (Amazing Stories contributor J. Jay Jones wrote a great piece about the author here ), so we’ll focus instead on the story that spawned the famous Odyssey series. “Sentinel of Eternity” in the 1951 spring issue of “10 Story Fantasy” For all of those wannabe writers out there, it’s reassuring to know that the short story Sentinel of Eternity by Clarke wasn’t even good enough to win a 1948 BBC competition. But a few years later in the spring of 1951, the piece finally found publication in Volume 1, #1 of the pulp magazine 10 Story Fantasy. It turns out that this was the only issue of the magazine ever produced by Avon Publication (who had previous failures in the pulp magazine market as well).

Eventually, this story emerged as the inspiration, muse, or as J. Jay Jones pointed out, the progenesis of what became 2001 Space Odyssey. So if you’re an aspiring writer, don’t give up on those ideas if they first go unnoticed. Those darlings just might blossom into literary classics. This review is based on The Sentinel as it appears in the 1978 Puffin edition anthology of The Worlds of Arthur C. Clarke – Of Time and Stars. With seventeen other works of fiction by the author in this book, I hope to return to it in the future and look at other pieces in the collection. The story begins with the geologist/selenologist narrator Wilson describing the team’s long term lunar research. The most notable perspective at this point is the casual observation by Wilson. Readers are put at ease by the commonality of man’s existence on the moon and the calm demeanor of the crew. “Half a dozen times a day we would leave our vehicle and go outside in the space suits to hunt for interesting minerals, or to place markers for the guidance of future travellers. It was an uneventful routine. There is nothing hazardous or even particularly exciting about lunar exploration.

We could live comfortably for a month in our pressurized tractors, and if we ran into trouble we could always radio for help and sit tight until one of the spaceships came to our rescue.” Perhaps this image does not compare to the awe inspired vision expressed in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, but is important none the less. Why? This introduction is less cryptic than the film and it serves two intertwined purposes to the story. One, it presents Clarke’s prediction of man’s celestial knowledge and technological advancements over nearly half a century in the future from when it was penned. And two, it sets up the theme that aliens will inevitably learn man has finally escaped the terrestrial boundaries of Earth and reached for the stars. In comparison with the Odyssey series, I find the difference in geometric design between the short story version of the monolith and that of its film and novelization counterparts fascinating. In the widely recognized versions, the monolith is a black, non-reflective rectangular solid mass with extremely flat surfaces located on various stages. But in the original short, Wilson’s perspective is a little different. “I was standing on a plateau perhaps a hundred feet across.

It had once been smooth – too smooth to be natural – but falling meteors had pitted and scored its surface through immeasurable aeons. It had been levelled to support a glittering, roughly pyramidal structure, twice as high as a man that was set in rock like a gigantic many-faceted jewel.” While we’re at it, I’d like to consider the definition of “sentinel” and its significance to the story. It’s no wonder Clarke chose it for the title of the short story and not surprising Kubrick didn’t run with it for the bigger picture. According to Merriam-Webster: sen·ti·nel noun \ˈsent-nəl, ˈsen-tə-nəl\ : one that watches or guards : SENTRY Kubrick (and Clarke) went with the Greek mythology angle by referencing Homer’s Odyssey in the space adventure title. This could have simply been homage to one of the earliest works of literature in Western civilization or perhaps how the hero’s journey is supposed to reflect the long awaited alien signal. But in Clarke’s original story, the “Sentinel of Eternity” is clearly a timeless guardian, intended for notification of any intelligent life, no matter how long it took.

This is backed up by the story header when first published: “Before there were men on Earth, that signal-sending pyramid had stood alone on a lifeless moon. What would happen now that its alarm was silenced?” The story does not answer this question (sorry, spoiler), but it does present the idea that there is an advanced intelligence out there and now they know we are here too. The later shortened version of the title maintains the sentry theme, but it also hints at the idea that the wait for the alarm is over. The Sentinel is not one of Arthur C. Clarke’s most profound works, but it has arguably become one of his most prolific as the Space Odyssey series has proven over time. If for that reason alone, it is an important part of literary science fiction history. The story can be found in print in a lot of SF anthologies, but it’s also available at a few places on the internet. Go check it out if you haven’t already. There is one more search I haven’t been too successful in (though I should say “yet” because the search continues). I would love to know what story or stories stood ahead of this one in that ill fated 1948 BBC completion.

Share this: The Sentinel : Arthur C. Clarke : 9780586212042 Arthur C. Clarke Short Stories Review quote 'Clarke is one of the greatest imaginative writers of hard science fiction' New Scientist 'Arthur Clarke is one of the true geniuses of our time' Ray Bradbury 'Arthur C. Clarke is the prophet of the space age' The Times 'A one-man literary Big Bang, Clarke has originated his own vast and teeming futurist universe' Sunday Times '3001 is not just a page-turner, plugged in to the great icons of HAL and the monoliths, but a book of wisdom too, pithy and provocative' New Scientist 'Arthur C. Clarke is blessed with one of the most astounding imaginations ever encountered in print' New York Times 'One of the truly prophetic figures of the space age... the colossus of science fiction' New Yorker show more About Arthur C. Clarke Born in Somerset in 1917, Arthur C.

Clarke has written over fifty books, among which are the science fiction classics 2001, A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, The City and the Stars and Rendezvous With Rama. He has won all the most prestigious science fiction trophies, and shared an Oscar nomination with Stanley Kubrick for the screenplay of the film of 2001. He lives in Sri Lanka. show more Follow us The Sentinel and 2001: a Space Odyssey - Term Paper The Sentinel and 2001: a Space Odyssey Open Document Abstract Within the pages of a book, authors are able to create great visual images of locations and landscapes by using elaborate and descriptive words. Sometimes these images are transferred into an actual visual by the subsequent creation of films based upon these great works. “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Stanley Kubrick is an example of such as it is based upon the literary short story, “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke. Kubrick has done an astounding job at developing the original short story by combining music with visual images way before it’s time. The film allows its viewers to see the original short story told by Clarke, creatively expanded and elaborated upon in comparison with great detail.

Table of Contents The Sentinel (Arthur C. Clarke), 1951 • Descriptive Elements 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, 1968 • Style, Visual and Music Elements • Theme – Evolution The Sentinel and 2001: A Space Odyssey Introduction “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) has been called, “The most spectacular vision of the future,” and “Eerily accurate and wild with suspense” (Nashawaty, 2011). It is an epic science fiction film based on the short story, “The Sentinel” (1951), written by Arthur C Clarke. Comparing the literary work from Clarke, to the fully elaborated film by Kubrick, it can be said that there is very little similarities. Kubrick has managed to develop Clark’s ideas into an epic movie that must be seen to be fully appreciated considering the time period in which the film was created. The Sentinel (Arthur C. Clarke), 1951 “The Sentinel” was a short story created in 1951, before the first landing on the moon.

The story begins in the time period of 1996, with a geology expedition on the moon. During the expedition the explorers discover a pyramid-shaped object that was left behind... The Sentinel & 2001: A Space Odyssey The Sentinel & 2001: A Space Odyssey Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Abstract Through the use of the written word mental images of places and landscapes (real and not real) are developed in books. These worlds can then be presented in a visual/aural medium such as film. 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick is based on the book, The Sentinel, written by Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke’s use of descriptive words, mental images of landscape & elements, all assist in the journey of the story. Kubrick uses the combination of visual images, music, graphics and technology which allows the not real to become real. The film takes the viewer on the journey described by the author but with the use of other creative means to expand, elaborate and embellish the story told by Clarke. Contents Book: The Sentinel (Arthur C.

Clarke), 1951 • Mental Images of Landscapes & Elements that assist the Depiction • Use of Descriptive Words Film: 2001-A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick) 1968 • The Combination of Visual Images and Music • Graphics & Technology Used To Create the Movie • Real & Not Real References Introduction 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is an epic film based on the book called The Sentinel written by Arthur C Clarke in 1951. Arthur C. Clarke when comparing the book to the movie is quoted as saying; “it is like comparing an acorn to the resulting oak-tree”. This quote is very true to how Kubrick has taken Clarke’s words and developed them into a classic movie of the era. Book: The Sentinel (Arthur C. Clarke), 1951 The Sentinel (1951) written by Arthur C. Clarke is a science fiction book about a geologist, Wilson recalling his role 20 years earlier as a leader of a lunar expedition to a massive plateau, the Mare Crisium.

During the expedition the explorers discover an artefact left behind by extra terrestrial’s eons of years ago. Mental Images of Landscapes & Elements that assist the depiction The descriptions of moon landscapes as told by the scientist are vivid and detailed in each element. The use of technical terms and depth of knowledge shared with the reader gives a real sense that you are observing, experiencing and part of the discoveries and the situation of those making those discoveries. The book describes the geography of the moon in a level of detail that educates, informs and assists in building a deep visual picture of the environment they are facing. Through the use of colours (“blue-white iridescence as the sunlight” / “glittering enigma”); distance (“only a mile or two away”); size (“those mountains were tens of thousands of feet high”); height (“a six hundred foot drop”) and direction (“southern horizon”/ “thirty miles to the east”); all allow the reader to build a visual map to assist them in the journey of the story. It is this map that the reader builds in their mind that takes them on the journey of the discovery of the Sentinel with Wilson.

Use of Descriptive Words The book is written from a personal perspective and in the first person. This enables the writer to share the feelings of the discoverer. It immediately draws the reader into the excitement and trepidation that the scientist is feeling and the dangers he is facing. Where he states, “there are times when a scientist must not be afraid to make a fool of himself” indicates a level of honesty taking the reader on an intimate and personal journey. It makes the reader curious of the adventure and what the scientist will find, discover and fear. The use of highly descriptive language enhances the visual image for the reader. For example, “the slow but ceaseless bombardment of space” enhances the visual understanding that the surface of the moon has been severely fractured by meteors over a long period of time, but Clarke has captured it with more poetic language. Another example of this which promotes an understanding of the physical and geographic environment through the use of descriptive language is “we never knew, as we rounded the capes and promontories of the vanished sea, what new splendours would be revealed to us”. It also creates a feeling of awe for the unknown, and a curiosity of what we (Wilson) will find in our endeavours.

Clarke also uses simple words to paint a mental picture of the lunar landscape. The description of moon landscapes as told by Wilson are detailed and comprehensive in each element covered. The use of simple descriptive words in explaining the geography and Wilson’s feelings, connects the reader with the experience, for example, “One could never grow tired of those incredible mountains, so much more rugged than the gentle hills of Earth.” Developing Wilson’s characterization and the use of dialogue throughout “The Sentinel” are very minimal despite the book being written in the first person. The reader is told hardly anything about Wilson other than his name and none of his credentials as an explorer are shared. The other only other named character in the story is Garnett and the reader is not enlightened on any details of his involvement in the narrative. The minimal use of characters and dialogue emphasizes the theme and mood of the story. Despite this, the author shares Wilson’s emotions as he realises that his hunch was correct (that there is something up in the mountains that is catching his attention) – he is taken with the moment and forgets all else as he includes his companion on the expedition. This leaves the reader with the understanding of the enormity of this discovery. Real vs.

Not Real In the era that this book was written space exploration had not yet begun and mankind had not landed on the moon. Any knowledge the author had of space travel and the moon had to be assumed was gained by the telescopic evidence available in the period before the book was published (1951). The author shared his use of imagination and highly descriptive geographic story telling to elaborate and take the original reader (back in 1951) to a place no one knew was real. To every one of the time of the book’s release, the moon and its landscape was not real. This is in the sense no one had ever stepped foot, explored, or taken samples of sediments on the moon. It was a light in the sky that for years has been a thing of wonderment and scientific curiosity. It was and is a part of storytelling, history and magic. The moon is still not real to most humans other than that light in the sky, but there is plenty of proof and far more scientific information now than was available in 1951.

The author has displayed the ability to transform the not real, the unknown into a personal reality with a sense of being present on the journey through the use of descriptive words and first person language and first person perspective. Film: 2001-A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick) 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick is an epic science fiction film. The film contains major themes such as human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence and extraterrestrial life. The movie uses incredible visual storytelling with a combination of amazing music for dramatic effect. The movie, like the book was filmed and released prior to the first landing on the moon by mankind in 1968. The film takes the viewer on the journey described by the author but with the use of other creative means to extend, elaborate and embellish the story told by Clarke. Kubrick has used Clarke’s 1951 book “The Sentinel” and expanded on it to produce the film. Arthur C. Clarke is quoted as saying; it is like comparing “an acorn to the resulting oak-tree”.

As mentioned previously this is a true summation of the way Kubrick has taken this story and developed it into a 141 minute movie and made it an all time epic movie that won Academy Awards. The combination of visual images and music The stark visual images used in any of the three sections (Dawn of Man, TMA-1 and Jupiter & Beyond the Infinite) of the film are accompanied by strong music or the use of silence. This engages the viewer to think and allow them to observe the stark isolation of the moon’s environment. The impact of strong and stunning visual images is a major part of the film. During the first and last twenty minutes of the movie there are no words spoken, just brilliant visual images combining with engaging music and sound effects. Within the story of the apes the use of music during this sequence grabs the viewer’s attention. Music is critical in creating the emotion of the scene where the ape first discovers tools. This is the moment when mankind stands apart from other animals in the evolution of nature on earth. The scene concludes with the ape throwing the bone into the air accompanied by exhilarating and triumphant music. Kubrick then cleverly cuts to the next part of the film in outer space with a fitting musical track.

The pace of the film appears slow but this was quite deliberate by Kubrick as it was to illustrate to the viewer the physical realties of space. In one scene where the docking of the spacecraft took approximately 15 minutes shows a more accurate reality of space travel. This pace is continued throughout the film to enhance the effect and notion of the exploration and silence of space. The pauses used through the use of a black screen with silence during the movie add to the drama of the scenes. Kubrick uses this technique to grab the viewer’s attention before the next sequence. Graphics & Technology used to create the Movie The graphics and technology used to create the movie were considerably advanced for the time. It appears the movie was produced through the use of a set rather than CGI. Developments in computer graphics have improved dramatically in movies produced today. However if created using the technology available now there wouldn’t be considerable difference in the end product. This is in terms of the depiction of the lunar landscape as the set created for the film’s production in 1968 was of such a high standard. The quality of the reproduction was far ahead of its time. Real & Not Real At the time the movie was created mankind had never set foot on the moon.

Kubrick uses his imagination and Clarke’s book to create something that is not real. We are in the fortunate position 38 years later to know what the moon looks like and Kubrick has done justice to the knowledge that was available at the time to make the moon’s landscape as real as we know it to be today. The film’s depiction of space travel, which at the time had not yet taken place, takes the viewer on the journey to a destination that wasn’t real at the time but turned out to be very realistic. Kubrick was able to look to the future and presented many technologies that are a reality today but in 1968 would have been innovative and created a drama. From the webcam, video messaging and to the design of the International Space Station. However the interesting area he did not see would change from the present of 1968 was the clothing the characters wore, it was very much the fashion of the 60’s and there were little advancements or changes in this area. Conclusion In conclusion, both the book and film provide images of places real and not real but in different communication mediums.

Clarke’s use of descriptive words to enhance the mental images of the landscape, first person language and first person perspective all assist in the journey of the story. In doing this he transformed the unknown into a personal reality with a sense of being present on the journey for the reader. The film takes the viewer on the journey described by the author but with the use of other creative means to extend, elaborate and embellish the story told by Clarke. The books graphic and detailed description has assisted Kubrick’s ability to create such a film. Kubrick created the lunar landscapes as described in the book and generated the not real to be real leaving the viewer with no doubt his depiction could one day be our reality. His use of audio and visual elements also added dramatic effect to the film. Kubrick has taken the short story of the Sentinel and made it an all time blockbuster movie. References The Sentinel, Arthur C. Clarke, 1951 Film: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968 Websites: The Roundtable.: Thoughts on Arthur C. Clarke's 'The Sentinel' And It's Origins for Kubrick's '2001' Thoughts on Arthur C.

Clarke's 'The Sentinel' And It's Origins for Kubrick's '2001' By Lars Trodson Speaking of " Two Lovers ", the character played by the excellent Joaquin Phoenix has a poster of Stanley Kubrick's " 2001: A Space Odyssey " in his bedroom. One presumes the poster is something left over from his childhood, and provides another hint of what kind of person Leonard Kraditor is, or was. Not everyone is attuned to the charms of Kubrick's peculiar masterpiece. Mike Gillis -- who directs our films here at Roundtable Pictures -- and I talked briefly about Kubrick just this weekend, and we were talking about " A Clockwork Orange ", and the general consensus was that "A Clockwork Orange" was either great or terrible. Who knows, really. I've seen the thing four or five times myself and I can't quite figure it out. At the very least it's fascinating. It's like any Kubrick film: you enter his universe and you're at his mercy.

I was lucky that I got an introduction to Kubrick at an early age, when my father took my brother and me to "2001" when it opened at the old Cinerama Theater on Hope Street in Providence in 1968. I remember there were hippies in the lobby. Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design were right down the street. From the first frame to the last I was entranced, and still remember the experience of watching the film for the first time. Everything about it was simply fascinating -- from the apes to the technology to the music to Captain Bowman's hallucinogenic trip home through the energy fields -- something in my house we used to call the "storm of colors." I used to think that's what the filmmakers must have called it, but it seems like that term was ours alone. I like it. You remember: Bowman is in the pod after he has shut down HAL and he flies through space and his trip is both spiritual and spatial. The "slit screen" effect, as it was called, put laser-like fields of color at the top and bottom of the screen. When Kubrick cut to Bowman, sometimes his eyes changed color.

We used to call that the "storm of colors." Arthur C. Clarke was Kubrick's collaborator on this film, and I had never read the story on which the movie was based: a very short story called "The Sentinel" that was published in 1950. I happened to have a paperback called "The Making of Kubrick's 2001" -- an anthology edited by Jerome Agel and published by Signet in 1970. The book is its own kind of trip -- far out and spacey and probably already two years behind the times when it was published -- but it contains a series of articles about the movie and interviews with the writers and also Kubrick that are interesting. We learn that the movie was originally called "Journey Beyond the Stars", which sounds incredibly 1950s sci-fi conventional. It also has a reprint of Clarke's "The Sentinel", which I had never read. The story begins like this: "The next time you see the full moon high in the south, look carefully at its right hand edge and let your eye travel upward along the curve of the disk.

Round about two o'clock you will notice a small, dark oval: anyone with normal eyesight can find it quite easily. It is the great walled plain, one of the finest on the Moon, known as the Mare Crisium - the Sea of Crises." That's a great beginning. What I found remarkable about this story is that Clarke adopts the tone of an enthusiastic, yet studied travel writer. The narrator is a geologist, but you utterly believe, from the first words on, that he has actually been to the moon -- the narrator knew its contours and personality and faults and pleasures. The Mare Crisium is where the narrator finds the sentinel of the title. He believes it is some kind of device left by a long-ago civilization to send out messages about what is happening on the earth. The sentinel is the precursor of the obelisk in "2001", and it is about the only element of the story used in the film. In truth, Clarke's sentinel looks or behaves nothing like the black slab found in the film. What I think Kubrick took away from the story was how natural Clarke made space travel feel -- and that is exactly what Kubrick and Clarke achieved in the film.

When I was a kid in 1968 looking at that amazing film, it made space travel seem like the most natural thing in the world. Even though, at the time, no one had yet been to the moon. Here is more from the story: "I said just now that there was nothing exciting about lunar exploration, but of course that isn't true. One could never grow tired of those incredible mountains, so much more rugged than the hills of the Earth. We never knew, as we rounded the capes and promontories of that vanished sea, what new splendors would be revealed to us. The whole southern curve of the Mare Crisium is a vast delta where a score of rivers once found their way into the ocean, fed perhaps by the torrential rains that must have lashed the mountains in the brief volcanic age when the Moon was young." This sounds like travel writing, but it was written almost 20 years before anyone had stepped foot on the surface of the moon. In the story Carke casually mentions the remnants of exotic fauna found on the moon, and the dried up beds of old rivers and seas, but what drives the narrative is a seemingly innocuous, yet ominous, observation.

The narrator is making the very English breakfast of eggs and sausage when he looks out the window of his "pressurized tractor", as Clarke describes their vehicle. He mentions that on the moon there is "no loss of detail with distance" when you are looking at things. There is "none of that almost imperceptible haziness which softens and sometimes transfigures all far-off things on Earth." The narrator continues, and this is the important part: "I was turning away when my eye caught a metallic glitter high on the ridge of a great promontory thrusting out into the sea thirty miles to the west. It was a dimensionless point of light, as if a star had been clawed from the sky by one of those cruel peaks, and I imagined that some smooth rock surface was catching the sunlight and heliographing it straight into my eyes. Such things were not uncommon." But of course it was uncommon. He saw something glitter. The narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the story, declares he's going to check out the promontory where he saw the reflection, and a fellow astronaut named Garnett volunteers to go with him.

The gravity-free atmosphere of the moon makes their climb up the 10,000 foot mountain relatively easy, but they are both convinced their trek will be fruitless. The Moon, then as now, has not produced revolutionary findings. Except it was not a fragmented piece of sharp rock that produced the glitter. When he reaches the ridge where he saw the light, the narrator writes: "Probably no emotion at all filled my mind in those first few seconds. Then I felt a great lifting of my heart, and a strange, inexpressible joy. For I loved the Moon, and now I knew that the creeping moss of Aristarchus and Eratosthenes was not the only life she had brought forth in her youth. There had, after all, been a lunar civilization - and I was the first to find it.

That I had come perhaps a hundred million years too late did not distress me: it was enough to have come at all." He loved the Moon, the narrator says, and one of the feelings that you get when you watch "2001" is that the filmmakers, if not necessarily the people in the film itself, love the Moon, and are in love with the idea of space travel and the possibility that it affords. The possibility of adventure and discovery is what drives the short story "The Sentinel", and also "2001." Both were created when such flights could propel the imagination. As much as "A Clockwork Orange" -- which was made three years after "2001" -- is much more pessimistic than the Anthony Burgess novel, "2001" is much more hopeful than the end of Clarke's short story. "The Sentinel" ends without much hope for Man, but is filled with the possibility that we can still be saved by some extraterrestial lifeforce. Kubrick took the opposite view. Humankind, in the movie, is both destructor and savior. In that way Kubrick created one of his most hopeful stories.

He is saying that no matter what damage we may have done, we may return, reborn, full of life, filled with hope. In that way, Kubrick and Clarke together created a world that may be historically eight years in the past, but is defiantly hopeful for our future. Arthur C. Clarke Fansite: "The Sentinel" (short story): Yet anoher ET beacon An MP3 version of this story is available online (link via SF Signal & Free SF Reader ). Story summary (spoiler). A local expedition off one of the permanent human bases on moon stumbles upon a machine on earth side of lunar surface that is found to be a beacon planted by ETs. Measurement of the depth of cosmic dust around the beacon dates it to a time before there was any kind of life on earth. Not only has the machine stayed there all these eons, it appears to be still in perfectly working condition. And it is shielded in ways that frustrates examination by curious humans. So the foolish human adventurers blast through it with some kind of atomic fuse - only to discover the interiors totally beyond their grasp. Story ends with this speculation: The ETs must have planted many such beacons across the galaxy near worlds that promise intelligent life in future.

And ETs probably assumed that the curious explorers will do something foolish - switching off of beacon is probably a signal to them that it's time they come & have a look. So the smarter of the humans await the arrival in fear - for the ETs are an old race, & old are normally jealous of the young! Note there is another Clarke story where ETs plant a beacon on moon to monitor evolution of intelligence on earth: the second of the four stories in " 2001 A Space Odyssey ". Note (12 April 2007): According to this Wikipedia article , this story was 'written in 1948 for a BBC competition but first published in 1951 under the title "Sentinel of Eternity"'. Collected in. 2001: A Space Odyssey Review - Arthur C. Clarke | Summary, Quotes, Interpretation While most people know 2001: A Space Odyssey from the classic Stanley Kubrick-directed film , the original story and novel were developed by Arthur C. Clarke, based on a short story called The Sentinel.

And while Kubrick’s unique vision doesn’t give the viewer a lot of explanation for the events that take place, Clarke’s novel provides a much clearer picture of the relationship between the black monolith that appears to the group of early human ancestors and the eventual first contact that human civilization has with an alien life form. 2001 Summary and Interpretation: The novel opens with a group of hominids living on the African savanna around 3 million B.C. The group is shown foraging for food and engaging in confrontations with rival groups. After the appearance of a strange black monolith causes them to erupt in a frenzy, members of the group begin to exhibit uncharacteristic levels of comprehension and ingenuity, including one who becomes the first to use a bone as a crude tool for killing animals (as well as a rival leader). While the movie is much more subtle, the book makes clear that the monolith has helped awaken intelligence in these primitive beings, giving them the ability to hunt for food and protect themselves from predators. The implication is that this mysterious nudge forward is what helped our ancestors evolve into the species we are today.

The book then jumps forward to the year 1999 (still in the future at the time the book was written) where we meet a scientist on his way to investigate a magnetic disturbance on the moon – what turns out to be the same black monolith from before. When the monolith is finally unearthed and sees sunlight for the first time, it sends out a radio signal that is fixed on one of Saturn’s moons. The next jump takes us 18 months into the future on-board a ship on a mission to Saturn to investigate the source of the radio transmission and hopefully meet the makers of the monolith. During the long journey, the crew is forced to deal with the mutiny of the ship’s artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000. When the ship finally reaches the rendezvous point, the true nature of the monolith is revealed and the remaining crew member undergoes a staggering transformation. 2001 Review: To say that this book deals with some lofty themes would be a huge understatement. From the perils of intelligent technology and the panorama of human evolution to the very origins of our species and our purpose in the universe, 2001 is a novel of grand thoughts and ideas rather than action and adventure.

If you’re someone who prefers your science fiction to be fast paced and exciting, you may want to skip this one. Like the movie, the book takes a steady, deliberate approach to its narrative. While the overall story may be grandiose, Clarke takes plenty of time to detail the minutiae of space travel and provide descriptions of the mechanics of space flight. So if you’re able to get through some of the slower parts, 2001 can be a great companion piece to Kubrick’s film for those that want to delve further into the movie’s story, characters and ideas. 2001: A Space Odyssey Quotes: “I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a… fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song.

If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you.” “Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error. “ Buy 2001: A Space Odyssey Paperback “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey | College Thesis Writing Help | Custom Dissertation Writing Services | Research Paper Writers “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Compare/Contrast Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Compare/Contrast Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey Using Arthur C.

Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film based on Clarke’s story, compare and contrast the short story with the film, with special attention to discontinuities between the written and visual form. Analyze both forms using terms drawn from narrative fiction (plot, character, setting, point of view, metaphor, etc.). Then, analyze how the short story and film present first contact between humans and aliens. How do both forms view this first contact and its impact on society? Are there any differences between the short story and film in this regard? What does this tell us about the limits of each form? This paper must be four double-spaced pages in length (not including the references page) and utilize at least four academic quality secondary sources. Margins should be no more than one inch (right and left) and the essay should be composed in 12-point Times New Roman font. Sources must be documented and cited using APA format.

Science Fiction Essay, Week 4 No matter which of the two topics you use for your paper, this paper must be 4 double-spaced pages in length (not including the works cited page) and utilize no less than 4 academic quality sources IN ADDITION TO THE PRIMARY SHORT STORY(s) AND FILM. This is a research paper, and not doing research for the paper will strongly affect your grade. Margins should be no more than 1 inch (right and left) and the essay should be composed in 12 point Times New Roman or Arial font. Sources must be documented and cited using APA format (cover page, page numbering, internal documentation, and a references page). Please see the tutorial in the syllabus for additional details on APA formatting and the tutorial in Week 1 on “The Elements of Fiction” for this paper. I would also strongly advise, if you do not feel confident in your academic writing, to finish a draft early and use the Tutor Source available in our class. Your assignment is due by Week 4, Sunday, end of week, 11:59 P.M. (MT). Submit your assignment to the Dropbox located on the silver tab at the top of our web page.

Looking at the sample paper I posted may help you. Question #1: Using Arthur C. Clarke’s short story “The Sentinel” and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film based on Clarke’s story, compare and contrast the short story with the film, with special attention to discontinuities between the written and visual form. The main theme of your essay should be “Views of first contact,” and you need to come up with a main thesis that states a claim about first contact in the two works. Analyze both forms using terms drawn from narrative fiction (plot, character, setting, point of view, metaphor, etc.). Then, analyze how the short story and film present first contact between humans and aliens. Here are some questions to consider, and possibly incorporate into your essay. How do both forms view this first contact and its impact on society? Are there any differences between the short story and film in this regard? What does this tell us about the limits of each form? Use at least 4 secondary sources. Question #2: This response should only be used when the film cannot be obtained, and the outside source requirements for it remain the same.

Compare and contrast the depiction of human–alien contact in Stanley G. Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey,” Frederic Brown’s “Arena,” and Frank Belknap Long’s “Invasion.” The main theme of the essay should be “How alien encounters are used to portray humankind’s relationship to technology.” Use terms drawn from narrative fiction to analyze these stories (plot, character, setting, point of view, etc.), focusing on what each story’s human–alien encounter suggests about humankind. Examine the role of extrapolation and/or metaphor as it is used in these stories. Then analyze how these stories view technology and its effect on society. This assignment also requires research and four academic secondary sources, and formatting requirements are the same as the main assignment. Grading Criteria

Question: Which film was based on the story The Sentinel by Arthur C Clarke?
Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey